1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tuck-in apparatus for a shuttleless loom, and more particularly, to an improved tuck-in apparatus for guiding the end portion of weft into a shed, by means of air squirted from a plurality of nozzles located on the side of the row of warps.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a tuck-in apparatus for a shuttleless loom, after a pick of weft, the end portion of the beaten-up weft is folded back into the next shed, to thereby form a selvage structure In a known tuck-in apparatus (described in, for example, Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No.Hei.1-174645 and Japanese Utility Model Examined Publication No.Hei.6-16952), a tuck-in nozzles are disposed on the side of the row of warps and are directed to the row of warps, and the end portion of weft is blown into a shed by means of a jet of air squirted from the tuck-in nozzles.
In such a tuck-in apparatus of known type, the tuck-in nozzles are oriented in parallel with or toward a cloth fell.
In the case of a conventional tuck-in apparatus, the jet of air squirted from tuck-in nozzles acts on the end portion of weft (hereinafter referred to as "weft end") while being oriented in parallel with or toward a cloth fell. Immediately after release of the weft end, the weft end is folded back in the direction in which the air is squirted. As a result, loosening becomes likely to arise in the vicinity of an area where the thread of weft is to be folded back, or a portion of the weft end that has been folded back may interfere with a cloth fell, thereby rendering the fold of weft incomplete. Accordingly, there may arise defects in a woven fabric; for example, loosening or a fray arising in the vicinity of a selvage of a woven fabric.
Further, in the conventional tuck-in apparatus, the tuck-in nozzles are oriented toward an area which is close to a cloth-fell and at which a shed is narrow (hereinafter called a "narrow shed"). The weft end is blown into the narrow shed by means of the squirted air, and the weft end becomes readily caught by the warp, thereby resulting in occurrence of failures of salvage formation in a woven fabric.
Japanese Utility Model Examined Publication No.Hei.6-16952 describes a tuck-in apparatus, in which two tuck-in nozzles (i.e., a first tuck-in nozzle and a second tuck-in nozzle) are disposed side by side with each other along a warp line. The second tuck-in nozzle, which is positioned close to the cloth fell, is oriented toward a side from which the warps are supplied (hereinafter referred to simply as a "warp supply side") with respect to the cloth fell.
In such a tuck-in apparatus, the first tuck-in nozzle, which squirts the jet of air to the weft end before the second tuck-in nozzle does, is oriented toward a cloth fell and is liable to cause the same problem as that of the above-mentioned conventional tuck-in apparatus. Further, the tuck-in apparatus squirts the air simultaneously from the first and second tuck-in nozzles such that the jet of air squirted from the first tuck-in nozzle and the jet of air squirted from the second tuck-in nozzle cross each other. Consequently, the jet of air squirted toward the warp supply side is canceled, and the confluence of two jets is directed toward the cloth fell. For this reason, the tuck-in apparatus fails to solve the drawback of the conventional tuck-in apparatus, and the drawback still remains unsolved.